The Crime Statistics Agency releases latest data for Wimmera

The Crime Statistics Agency have released the latest crime statistics for the year ending on June 30, 2021, with an average of 10 offences taking place every day across the region.

Two thirds of the 2436 crimes took place in Horsham.

Acting Superintendent Karl Curran for Western Division 4 said the crime in the region "remains steady" and the Horsham Police are focused on areas with high offences.

"There has been some concentrated offending," he said.

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"In the Nhill area we conducted an operation and there was some successful arrests."

Acting Superintendent Curran said it was disappointing to see breaches of family violence orders.

"Some of the lockdowns and COVID-19 restrictions have impacted people not only financially but also with not having the ability to move around which has caused tension in relationships," he said.

"We are concerned about that."

He noted that some breaches will be electronic and not in person but are still worrisome.

"We still experience a lot of family violence in our communities," Acting Superintendent Curran said.

He said before lockdown, police were proactive with contacting repeat victims to make them as safe as possible.

Acting Superintendent Curran said the one critical piece of advice he has is to lock their vehicles and homes.

"A thing of concern is the number of vehicles and houses that have been broken in to that have been unlocked," he said.

"Police can't be on every corner; we want to work with the community to avoid crimes occurring and one of those simple steps is to lock your vehicles, don't leave valuables inside your car, don't leave keys out in plain site in an unlocked house."

While criminal incidents were down from 2020, offences recorded were up by almost seven per cent.

There were 2346 offences recorded in the 2021 period, up from 2278 last year.

The most common offence was family violence, with 47 offences, up from 29 in 2020.

The other most prevalent offences were criminal damage (174), bail conditions breach (144), common assault (130) and other theft (100).

The most common offence took place in houses, which increased by almost 300 offences.

In 2020, 926 offences were recorded in homes, and in 2021, 1208 offences were recorded.

Offences in the subgroup "other thefts" decreased (41 from 44, as did offences recorded in the front yard, 100 from 163.

Other thefts are the fifth top type of offences recorded, and front yard locations are also the fifth top.

The majority of offences recorded occurred in Horsham, with 2177 offences recorded. The second most common suburb was Drung, with 89 offences recorded.

PREVIOUS STATS: Horsham and Yarriambiack see an increase of crimes recorded

Hindmarsh saw a 73.3 per cent increase in offences recorded, with most of the offences taking place in Dimboola (318) and Nhill (179).

The municipality saw a 42 per cent increase in crime, with 617 offences taking place.

More than a quarter of the crimes were related to family violence, with 172 offences recorded.

The other most common offences were intervention order breach (56), other theft (54), criminal damage (39), and bail conditions breach (39).

Every category saw an increase except for other theft; there were 54 offences recorded this year, down from 58 in 2020.

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Total offences recorded decreased in the West Wimmera local government area by one offence recorded.

In the 2020 period, there were 168 offences recorded, and for the 2021 period, there were 167.

The most common offence was sexual offences, with 26 offences recorded.

Other prevalent offences were theft (23), criminal damage (12), family violence order breach (12) and public health and safety offences (10).

The most common location for an offence to occur was a household, with 66 offences.

The top location for offences was Kaniva with 42 offences, and the second location was Edenhope with 31 offences; however, both towns recorded a decrease in offences from the previous year.

Offences within the Shire of Yarriambiack's dropped by more than 25 compared to the 2020 figures, with 412 offences recorded.

Warracknabeal had the highest rate of offences with 172 offences, down from 239 offences.

The most prevalent type of offence recorded was a breach of a family violence order. There were offences recorded, increased from 47 in the previous year.

Other offences were criminal damage (43), other theft (36), sexual offences (22) and residential non-aggravated burglary (22).

Offences were most likely to take place in the house. There were 168 offences recorded from a house location.

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